Edwin Hubbell Chapin (December 29, 1814-December 26, 1880), Universalist minister, author, lecturer, and social reformer, was one of the most popular speakers in America from the 1840s until his death. He was revered for his eloquent tongue and passionate pleas for tolerance and justice.
Sir (Joseph) Austen Chamberlain (October 16, 1863-March 16, 1937), British politician and statesman, was the son of Joseph Chamberlain and the older brother of Neville Chamberlain. As architect of the Locarno Treaties, meant to preserve peace in post-World War I Western Europe, he was awarded the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize.
Jerzy (George) Niemirycz (1612-1659) was an ambitious Arian nobleman and statesman in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During his later life the Commonwealth, which included the Ukraine, was nearly destroyed by Cossack revolt and Russian and Swedish invasion (a disastrous period in Polish history known as “The Deluge”).
Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811-November 29, 1872), Universalist journalist, reformer, and politician, is best known as the longtime, innovative publisher and editor of the New York Tribune. In 1872 he campaigned unsuccessfully for the United States presidency as the candidate of the Liberal Republicans and Democrats, running against incumbent Republican Ulysses S.
Henry Nelson Wieman (August 19, 1884-June 19, 1975) was a leading American religious philosopher. In early life Wieman was a Presbyterian. In his middle years, as a professor, he shared his naturalistic approach to Christianity with people of many denominations.
Albert Rhys Williams (Sept 28, 1883-Feb 27, 1962), a labor organizer and journalist, was a witness to and a participant in the Russian Revolution of October 1917. He was a friend of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and American Communist writer John Reed.
Caroline Evans Veatch (April 17, 1870-October 4, 1953) was a modest widow who, because she was homebound, was never able to attend the Unitarian society she joined late in life. Her bequest transformed the congregation that inspired her and has sustained both the Unitarian Universalist Association and many other UU organizations.
John Hassler Dietrich (1878-1957), minister for almost a quarter of a century at the First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was among the first Unitarian ministers to boldly preach that humanist thinking was the true foundation of religious liberalism.
Dolphus Skinner (May 18, 1800-October 2, 1869), a Universalist minister and editor, served the Universalist church in Utica, New York for over 40 years. His long ministry in provided stability during the rapid growth of Universalism in central New York.
Giovanni Giorgio Biandrata (or Blandrata) (1516-May 5, 1588), physician and counsel to the courts of Eastern Europe, brought the ideas of Michael Servetus and the Italian Radical reformers to the Reformations in Poland and Transylvania. He was an organizer of Reform and Unitarian churches in both countries and used his influence with the ruling families to protect the fledgling churches.
Judith Sargent Murray (May 5, 1751-June 9, 1820), essayist, poet, and playwright, was the most prominent woman essayist of her day. She argued forcefully for improved female education and for women to be allowed a public voice. She was among the first Universalists in New England, a pioneer religious educator, and the wife of the distinguished Universalist preacher John Murray.
Jan (John) Kiszka (c.1552-1592) was a politician, magnate, patron and benefactor of Arianism in the 16th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Jan was the eldest son of Stanislaw Kiszka (d.1554), Palatine of Witebsk (wojewoda witebski) in today’s Eastern Belarus, and Princess Anna Radziwill (d.